School Programs
Come to the Barnes, or we’ll come to you. Our programs will nourish your students’ imaginations and serve your curricular goals.
Teacher Resources
Looking closely, listening openly, sharing observations—a pre-K–12 lesson with the Barnes Foundation encourages students to have a curious, creative voice. Use the resources below to extend your students’ learning and sign up for teacher emails to stay informed of new opportunities.
Art of Math Challenge
Students in grades 1–12 take on the 2025 Art of Math Challenge in teams of three or more. Each submission consists of a 3-D model of one of three selected artworks from the Barnes collection and a written statement. The competition culminates with a display of qualifying models at the Barnes’s PECO Free First Sunday Family Day on April 6, 2025. Winners will be announced, prizes will be awarded, and participants will be honored in a grand ceremony!
Classroom Learning
Our Collection
- Impressionism Lesson Plan for Grades 3–6
- Ensembles Lesson Plan for Grades 4–5
- Impressionism Lesson Plan for Grades 9–12
Special Exhibitions
- Cecily Brown: Themes and Variations (March 9–May 25, 2025)
The exhibition surveys the pioneering career of the London-born, New York–based artist Cecily Brown (b. 1969), one of the most celebrated artists working in painting today. Presented in the Roberts Gallery, the exhibition features more than 30 paintings and related drawings that showcase Brown’s bold brushwork, vibrant colors, and reimagining of gender stereotypes.
Cecily Brown Slideshow with Images and Discussion Questions
- Mickalene Thomas: All About Love (October 20, 2024–January 12, 2025)
The Barnes presentation of Mickalene Thomas: All About Love showcases a selection of vivid and multifaceted artworks—paintings, collage, photography, video, and installation—that celebrates Mickalene Thomas’s distinctive artistic practice from the late 2000s to the present day. Her intricate multimedia art is characterized by spectacularly staged rhinestone compositions, decisively foregrounding Black femininity in abundant realms of visual pleasure, agency, and kinship.
Teacher Background and Information